THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS of New South Wales is a rural region with a reputation for city-style affluence. Most visitors, and a significant number of its residents, see it as the happy hunting ground of the very rich and the ordinarily rich. It’s up there with Sydney’s Double Bay, Melbourne’s South Yarra and Brisbane’s Ascot in the status and desirability stakes.

This view has a historical basis. Since 1867, when the railway reached the district, it has been not only a cool-climate tourist destination but also a popular bolthole for those able to afford large country homes and estates among the rolling green hills.